Testing Memory (RAM) Stability in Windows 8 and 8.1

Posted by sk3tch on January 27, 2015 – 1:16 PM

I picked up some new memory for my ASUS G751 gaming notebook earlier this week – with Windows 8.1, I had not required to run a full memory diagnostic, yet…so I went and grabbed my favorite utility from the Windows 7 and prior days: Memtest86+ – unfortunately, it won’t work upon bootup with Windows 8 and all of its new fast boot features. I did some digging and found that Microsoft has included a very extensive memory diagnostic/testing/stability application in Windows Memory Diagnostic – available for Windows 7 and later Microsoft Operating Systems (such as Windows 8 and Windows 8.1). Here’s how you run it:

Start > Run (if you’re like me and use a Windows 7 start menu replacement for Windows 8.1) or use the search feature to find “Windows Memory Diagnostic.

I highly recommend choosing the first option – “Restart now and check for problems” – you’ll be greeted with this upon reboot:

For best results, I recommend going into the options right away by hitting F1:

Select the “Extended” test and hit F10 to apply – it will take a bit longer but it is worth it to make sure that your new set of memory is stable.

That’s it! Walk away, make a sandwich, watch a movie…it should take around 30 – 90 minutes depending on the speed of your computer. The screen will update with progress. Now you can safely use your new memory in your machine and know that it is not bad. Enjoy!